Unearthing Prehistoric Tumors, and Debate

January 3, 2011

The New York Times

When they excavated a Scythian burial mound in the Russian region of
Tuva about 10 years ago, archaeologists literally struck gold. Crouched
on the floor of a dark inner chamber were two skeletons, a man and a
woman, surrounded by royal garb from 27 centuries ago: headdresses and
capes adorned with gold horses, panthers and other sacred beasts.

But for paleopathologists — scholars of ancient disease — the richest treasure was the abundance of tumors that had riddled almost every bone of the man’s body. The diagnosis: the oldest known case of metastasizing prostate cancer... Read More